Shazam targets smartwatch as next product line

Shazam intends to be much more than simply a music discovery app on your smartphone. This year, the service will officially enter the smartwatch market. While possible cohorts including Apple, Samsung and Motorola, its mobile partner has yet to be disclosed. “We are talking with a few,” Patriciapar Parra, CMO of Shazam, told AdWeek.

Shazam’s agenda is twofold: first, the company is inching toward advancements that will allow users to wear their technology as opposed to fingering through an app. Second, Shazam’s CEO, Rich Riley, acknowledged that the business’s fate lies in the direction iOS and Android head: “We generally are following the operating systems. Where iOS and Android go is a logical place for Shazam to go—whether that is on wrists, cars or TVs.”

If Shazam successfully taps into world of smartwatches, it will be the first entertainment app to combine music-and-TV capabilities. Parra further illustrates the company’s ideas: “We are expanding the use case to different environments. So you will be able to Shazam in retail, you will be able to Shazam in theater. And we are going to launch with digital recognition—you will be able to Shazam a magazine, a toy box, a DVD or any physical package. You’ll then receive a very customized tag result that has interactive content. It’s pretty fascinating.”

Notice that the discovery app is not only targeting sounds, but also objects, so that “the famous blue button that our users love will remain on the home screen but will be able to do much more,” according to Riley. In other words, users will soon be able to Shazam a food item for nutritional information or a CD set to read more about it and subsequently purchase the product. $70 million has already been raised to hire new staff and ink new partnerships with publishers and content companies.